Public libraries are gradually finding their users

After the shock of the pandemic, public libraries are slowly getting back on track. In the fall, nearly 80% of their users had resumed their habits in their neighborhood library.

This is what the director general of the Association of Public Libraries of Quebec, Ève Lagacé, finds after surveying its 312 members across the province. “Since last spring, everything has restarted, she says, even if in theory, the libraries have been open to the public since 2021. Animation activities, such as story time, have resumed in person, and attendance is up in all libraries. »

According to Ève Lagacé, teleworking has even resulted in more people visiting their neighborhood library.

At the Grande Bibliothèque de Montréal, the situation was more difficult, the library having been almost deserted by Montrealers for nearly two years. But over the past year, it has doubled its attendance rate to nearly 1.1 million visitors.

However, the Grande Bibliothèque is still far from the pre-pandemic attendance rate – with some 2.1 million visitors recorded in 2019 – but the current growth reassures the management, which is preparing new exhibitions and conferences.

According to the management of the place, there is also talk of setting up artistic residencies, the opening of a musical space, the reopening of the Fab Lab (a digital laboratory), of its café bistro and of the sale of used books with the Bouquinistes.

Online services on the rise

One of the legacies of the pandemic for the Grande Bibliothèque is the increase in its remote services. According to the director of communications, Mylène Racine, the number of visits to the sites of the Grande Bibliothèque jumped by 36.4%, from 7.6 million to 10.3 million. BAnQ numérique – which includes heritage documents, among other things – saw its number of visits explode by 160% to 8.9 million in the last year.

The profile of users is thus tending to change. At least that’s what Mylène observes. Root.

Will this trend continue given the high rate of inflation which is forcing households to review their spending (particularly for the purchase of books)? We will have to wait until the end of next year to find out.

In any case, this trend does not hold true in neighborhood libraries, according to Ève Lagacé. The rise in digital loans seen during the pandemic is now below the 2 million mark seen in 2019, while it jumped to 3.3 million in 2020, and remained around 2.9 million in 2021. the smaller municipal libraries, users prefer to go on site.

One thing is certain, the types of documents consulted or borrowed have not changed. The prize list has been essentially the same for several years. There are mainly comics (especially manga, but also graphic albums like The Arab of the future, The little astronaut Where Paul at home), historical novels, thrillers and essays.

In the 10 most borrowed books in 2022, we found for example do you really need it ?, by Pierre-Yves McSween, The Scarlet Maid, by Margaret Atwood kukumby Michel Jean or even On the side of the Laurentiansby Louise Tremblay-d’Essiambre, The monsterby Ingrid Falaise, and six minutesby Chrystine Brouillet.